Red Stick was what Native Americans
called this part of the country. Baton Rouge, as we know
it today, is often under-considered as a great tourist
destination. It was where Travel South held this
year's conference. Yes, we worked meeting with CVB
people from southern states in a speed dating format
during two of the days but lunch and evenings were super
fun and our first day was spent seeing some of its many
attractions.

A Rural Soiree
at LSU's Rural Life Museum

We started off Saturday night
before the conference began with a swinging party at
LSU's rural Life Museum. Aside from the regular
activities you will find when you visit after this
pandemic ends, we were feted with food and music. Lots
of both. There was Nouveaux Cajun Xpress Band. These
guys played all the old Cajun music favorites including
one of my personal favorites,
Louisiana
Saturday Night. They are so good they have been
nominated by Cajun French Music Association in five
categories. One is Clyde Thompson for Fiddler of the
Year and the others for the whole band; Best First CD,
Best Album / CD of the Year, Band of the Year, and
People's Choice Award.

The Southern University
award-winning marching band, The Human Jukebox, paraded
down the main section and gave a rousing performance.
Other singers and musicians entertained as well.

Food stations were preparing and
serving food all around the complex. There were plates
of Cochon de Lait, a special roasted pig dish, gumbo,
crawfish and crabs plus other Louisiana traditional
food. Desserts including a traditional Louisiana bread
pudding were served at campfire-lit areas. Special night
reenactors were doing their jobs. Blacksmiths worked the
forges. A group of "19th century folks"
showed us their cabin and a typical table filled with
foods of that era. It was a night to remember.

Baton Rouge exists because of the
Mississippi River. Our day tour focused on the
importance of the river in the past and today.

Erica Sweeney Glory with Baton
Rouge CVB led us in a walk along the riverfront to a new
sculpture named "Sing The River," designed by
California-based artist Po Shu Wang and gifted to the
City-Parish of Baton Rouge by the Rotary Club of Baton
Rouge. We all crowded around and stood inside to here it
"sing." Yes, it really does. It is connected to sensors
in the river that generate a soft kind of music that
corresponds to the flow of the water. It even lights up
at night.

As we walked we passed flowering
gardens and other interesting sights like Raising Cane’s
River Center and USS Kidd. Even the steps leading down
to the walkway are a work of art in its own right. When
all is completed the walkway will go about 11.5 miles.

Southern
University

We visited Southern University. It
was founded in 1880 and originally based in New Orleans.
In 1890 it relocated to the present site. The site was
an old indigo, cotton and sugar plantation on the banks
of the Mississippi River. The original old overseer's
house from around 1840 is now there archives center.

It
has the distinction of being the location from which
Baton Rouge takes its name. Houma Indian Tribe and the
Bayougoula Indian Tribe had disagreements about their
hunting ground boundaries and finally established this
spot and marked it with a stained red cypress pole on
Scott’s Bluff. When French-Canadian explorer Pierre Le
Moyne d'Iberville saw the marker during an exploration
in 1699/1817.he used the French version as the name of
the new town. There is a commemorative Red Stick
sculpture in that spot today.

We enjoyed a light lunch at the
university and then moved on to our next discovery.

Estuary

One of Baton Rouge's newest
projects involving the river ties in with the old. Look
back a bit before we move forward. Samantha Morgan gave
us some history. In the early 1900s, Baton Rouge was a
sleepy town. Then in 1909 Standard Oil (today it's
Exxon) came to town and brought big money to the area.
In 1925, the city decided to spend some of the money to
build a dock. Prior to that all goods shipped to Baton
Rouge had to go first to New Orleans then get brought to
Baton Rouge by train. Disaster struck in the form of a
flood in 1927 followed by the Great Depression and took
its toll. Eventually the dock wasn't making money and
then began to fall into disrepair.

Today, it's seeing a revival as
part of a project to protect Louisiana's disappearing
wetlands. The Water Campus was born. The Old Dock is now
part of a meeting center, The Estuary features over
6,000 square feet of stunning meeting and event space
that almost brings the river into the conference rooms
and allows attendees to access the Father of Waters up
close and personal. But wait there's more!

LSU Center for
Water Development

We visited the country’s first
major center developed for the study of coastal
restoration and sustainability. Twenty four square miles
of Louisiana is washing away each year. For you football
fans, that's a football field every 38 minutes. The
Coastal Protection and Restoration Society was formed
after hurricanes Katrina and Rita as a central agency to
work at solving this problem.

They have a movable bed river model
which replicates the real Mississippi River and
scientist can work with "what if" ideas to research what
will work to help solve this problem. They have just
started their once a month viewings. You can view actual
case scenarios on the model. This is an amazing
education about the results of climate change and
man-made problems on the land mass of not only Louisiana
but all of our coasts.

Revelry on the
River at Houmas House

Our dinner at Houmas House was an
elaborate affair as befitted the history of the
plantation. Its history began in 1775 when Alexander
Latil built a French Colonial style home on land he and
a partner had taken from the local Houmas Indians. In
1803 and again 1829, remodeling created something
similar to the Classical Revival mansion that stands
today. By the 19th century the plantation
valued over a million dollars and was the largest slave
holding plantation in Louisiana.

Today, it is an inn and private
home but portions of the home and all of the grounds and
outbuilding are open for tours. Docents in period
costume greet you as you view the home. Since parts are
a private residence, viewing is limited to certain
areas.

The Inn at Houmas House is made up of several
cottages moved to the site from nearby. There are three
on-site restaurants and one of the original garconierres
(French term for where young unmarried sons of a house
lived) from 1836 operates as the Turtle Bar.

The grounds lead to a performance
stage via a 10-foot-wide walkway surrounded by gardens
with a colorful fountain. The band there had more appeal
to the younger guests. Inside the newest addition, the
Great River Road Museum and Interpretive Center, there
was a jazz band playing. The museum is filled with
information and artifacts about plantations and history
of life on the Mississippi.

The only thing missing were slave
cabins to tell the story of the folks who actually built
all this wealth. Visits to other nearby plantations
offer their interpretations of that part of antebellum
life. Houmas House reflects the life of wealthy sugar
cane plantation owners. Our food was delicious and
weather cooperated to make it a memorable night.

Every Man a King
at Capital Park Museum

Ever wish you could meet one of
your favorite historical characters? My wish came true
at our Monday night dinner. Louisiana's most
controversial governor of all time greeted us. Huey
Long, the Kingfish, governor, U.S. Senator, and
presidential contender, met us at the entrance to
Capital Park Museum. For those not familiar with the
Kingfish, he was the 40th governor of Louisiana from
1928 to 1932 and a member of the United States Senate
from 1932 until his assassination in 1935, shortly after
he announced his run for the presidency. His legacy was
a "Share the Wealth" policy. He was both ruthless and
dishonest but advanced public education with free
textbooks, built roads and bridges, and helped poor and
disenfranchised people of both races. One exhibit at the
Old Capital Museum shows the two sides of Long and then
asks "Would you vote for or against him?"

The Krewe of Yazoo entertained us
among the carnival exhibits at the museum. We met a
Mardi Gras Indian and got a nice helping of Louis
Armstrong style Jazz.

Violinist Shawn Ward entertained us
while we dined outside in view of the magnificent
Capital building. Fireworks completed a perfect evening.

Carnaval de
Louisiane at Louisiana Art and Science Museum

Closing night was a colorful and
delicious fest. Bayou Cirque entertainers in colorful
costume contorted into positions I would never recover
from. These acrobats were fantastic. The food and drinks
were served on two levels and we were given lots of
mementoes to remember the event.

The Art and Science Museum is a
grand mixture of colorful art and interesting science
exhibits. A planetarium adds to the fun.

Lunch
presentations

As a break from our meetings, our
lunches were fun and entertaining.

Tennessee

Tennessee told us the story of Ken
Burns Country Music series with author Dayton Duncan as
a guest. For thirty years, Dayton Duncan has
collaborated as writer/producer with Ken Burns on
documentary films for PBS the most recent being
Country Music
viewed by nearly 40 million people. He showed clips from
around Tennessee related to the eight-year journey
making the film. This would convince anyone they wanted
to visit Tennessee.

Alabama

Alabama drew us in with scenes from
Alabama's legends while they fed us based on
100 dishes to eat
in Alabama. One of Alabama's most famous natives
being Aretha Franklin, we were treated to a performance
by a fantastic impersonator.
The band
actually had played with Aretha Franklin. This lady
looked, sang, and performed so perfectly they could have
fooled us into believing she really was The Queen of
Soul.

This kind of event not only gives
us a chance to meet the representatives of many places
we want to visit and write about for you, our readers,
They offer a glimpse into what awaits us there when we
can begin traveling again.

American Roads and
Global Highways has so many great articles you
may want to search it for your favorite places
or new exciting destinations.

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